Reimagining Place Based Health: Midland Heart join a major new Commission from NLGN and Collaborate

Ruth Cooke, chief executive of Midland Heart is part of a major new commission launched by NLGN and Collaborate which is looking at reimagining the future of place-based health.

Chaired by Lord Victor Adebowale, the Commission will tackle the most challenging questions facing both the NHS and local councils today as they struggle with rising demand, reducing budgets and the changing demographics of their service users.

“We are extremely pleased to support this important commission – it’s a valuable chance to really understand local health, care and support issues - and to play our part driving a future that sees the true value of an integrated health and social care offer and wider whole system reform that help alleviate pressures on all parts of the current system”.

- Ruth Cooke, CEO Midland Heart

The commission will start by examining in depth three key areas of sensitivity:

As resources remain limited and budgets constrained, how do you improve health outcomes for citizens without spending more?

Structural change to move from a focus on acute care to more prevention and early intervention is vital. But will it ever be politically acceptable to close hospitals?

How do you localise a cross-sector service with a partner as centralised as the NHS without losing quality and consistency?

Supported by British Red Cross, City Health Care Partnership CIC, AbbVie and Midland Heart, the commission will bring together a range of cross-sector experts, leaders and organisations to address these areas. They will look at what new local collaborative models of health, care and support could look like, and address the implications for our current health and local government services.

The commission will set out practical steps towards making a new system happen in practice. These will be supported through place-based evidence sessions in the North East, Midlands, London and the East of England to ensure we hear experienced voices from across the country.

Throughout, the commission will be concerned with developing models of commissioning, delivery, funding and governance that engage citizens, share risk and responsibility, and reduce dependency on traditional ways of working.

Local health outcomes are what matter to citizens, and therefore we believe that efforts to reform the system should start with local systems.

Lord Victor Adebowale said:

“This commission will produce solutions and ideas – and remove excuses – for the acceleration of place based health and social care services. These services must be reimagined so they collaborate with each other, but even more importantly, with citizens.”

Simon Parker, Director of NLGN said:

“It is an open secret that the NHS as it is currently constituted is in danger of becoming unsustainable. We believe it will be essential to work far more collaboratively with local councils and other partners to deliver the kind of health outcomes the public expects and deserves. This commission will be the most detailed and in depth approach yet to looking at how that can be done. We are very excited about this work and what it will find.”

Sarah Billiald, Managing Director of Collaborate said:

“All too often terms such as ‘collaboration’ or ‘system integration’ are bandied about with little understanding of what this means in practice. By focusing on four localities across England, this Commission will get under the bonnet of these terms and help broker future approaches to place based health that are in the best interests of citizens not institutions”